This would have been right after the "Suicide Run" crossover with the other Punisher titles, and why not come back to Big John Buscema doing his thing? I don't know why he didn't do the covers too, though. From 1994,
Punisher War Zone #26, "Pirates" Written by Chuck Dixon, art by John Buscema. Cover by Rafael Kayanan.
Frank's looking for a gunrunner in Florida, in what appears to be a casual, maybe easy-breathing lounge version of his skull t-shirt. After a couple murders, he makes his way to scenic Puerto Dulce, disguised as a mobster he waxed in front of his girl. Frank barely gets off the plane before getting into a shootout, but manages to fight his way to a pickup by the local boss...whose sister was with the dead mobster, and knows Frank isn't him! Pretty sure she doesn't want her brother to know where she was or what she was doing, but she seems content to let Frank sweat first.
Plotwise that's a little slight, but Buscema sells the hell out of it. This story would run to
PWZ #30; and was about the same time as Dixon and Buscema's prestige format Punisher western
A Man Named Frank.
Aside from these issues & that one GN, you'd think Buschema & Dixon would be natural long-time collaborators on the Punisher. Buschema's style certainly seems to fit with Dixon's style of writing and all.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Buscema ever drew the Punisher. The character, or as Mr. Morbid points out, at least Dixon's version) feels like a good fit for Buscema's style, but part of me feels like having him draw Punisher War Zone is kind of a waste. Better than not using him at all, I guess.
ReplyDelete@CalvinPitt: Why do you say that? Even if it's not on the main title, we still got the fun experience of Buschema gracing us with his rendition of Frank. A lot better than mere pinups which I know he's provided for various issues & annuals.
ReplyDeleteI guess it feels like there would have been better books than the secondary Punisher title to have an artist Buscema's level draw. But I'm probably misremebering how big Punisher was in the '90s (I wasn't much of a Punisher guy back then.)
ReplyDeleteI do get that point, but he was HUGE back in the 90's. He had 4 monthlies at the time, including a series devoted to just his gun collection.
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